Are we storytelling – or just telling stories?
While storytelling has become one of adland’s biggest buzzwords Rob Lowe argues marketers are failing to make the necessary emotional connections.
I remember first hearing people talk about ‘storytelling’ a few years ago. I never quite understood it then and I still don’t fully understand the term now.
In fact, like many others, I think it’s overused marketing jazz.
A story to me typically has a beginning, a middle and an end. It’s structured. It depicts an event or series of linked events. I can think of a handful of campaigns that do that;
Great article Rob, thanks for sharing. Your take on storytelling is so on the mark.
Mary Angenou?!! That should be Maya Angelou.
Thanks for spotting Jill. It should be corrected now.
Storytelling. Yet another word the industry uses to avoid using the ‘A’ word.
Great read Rob!
I emphatically agree, so does Stefan Sagmeister. https://vimeo.com/98368484
Theatre has a long history of being on the one hand, loved celebrated and enjoyed, and on the other hand considered dangerous, immoral, mendacious, and even criminal.
Beautiful words such as acting, depicting dramatising, role playing, phantasise/now fantasize, theatricality, playing, and story telling, all have a double meaning, supported by the mixed attitudes towards theatre which have prevailed, and are, indeed, at the centre of the characterisation within the ING ads.
Story telling, and telling stories, are one and the same, but they have the imposed duel meaning or the double entendre.
Story telling is not to be described or encircled by the use of a dictionary or lexicon to pin it down as so many foolish people attempt to do with a hosts of individual words. They must have context, and so must theatrical story telling.
Many Ausrtralian dramas, including radio, tv, and film, fail to function properly as a finished product because of the absence of good story telling. Any ad which can be deemed pointless or unmoving , has probably suffered the same problem.
Shakespeare, Maugham, Ibsen, Chayefsky, Lope de Vega, and Cervantes, were all great story tellers, but there is a huge range of story telling between these gentlemen and the writer of the simple 15 sec radio ad, but there is no less artistry, no less theatricality and no less purpose, Story telling is story telling, and the world has existed and flourished upon, and because of it.
Never sell it short, never despair, and never send it up, unless you intend to use it to produce great comedy or satire.
Journalists, writers and editors have been story telling for Centuries in newspapers, and then in TV news programmes over decades. The opening up of diversified channels requiring more content, especially video, has provided brands with opportunities to tell stories and the advertising industry with headaches because of they weren’t sure how to do it quickly, cheaply, and repeatedly – skills that PR and journo types have in buckets. Storytelling is relevant. Just make it in a hurry and don’t pretend it’s art.
Nice piece Rob. Totally agree on the emotion element. Rachel Botsman does an interesting TED video where she refers to the increasing importance / relevance of trust & reputation – Themes along a similar vein.
The first time I came across the term ‘storytelling’ it was in relation to content not advertising. Narrative storytelling is recognised as being one of the most powerful methods of persuading people – that’s why Barristers use it, that’s why every religion uses it in their books and teachings. I think what we have here is a case of creative agencies trying to stop the flow of revenue to those who really know how to craft a true narrative eg. Publishers, documentary film makers etc that to your point, can evoke an emotional response as well as persuade.
This is what storytelling is to me…
Good stories are often quite long, complex, have a lot of characters, happen in different places and over time. They are not a 30 second ad campaigns. Only when you string a few together, with a clear narrative, like AAMI, do you start to get
some value. Even then consumers see it as just advertising. I see storytelling and it’s power as very much a real world thing. When you telling real stories about real people then the effectiveness is greatly enhanced. The “single-minded ethos” of Apple Rob mentioned comes from not just it’s advertising but the whole story about the company, it’s leader, it’s history, it’s rise and fall and rise again. Advertising is just a bit player in the big story. The company founder, the country of origin, the workers can “inspire emotion in the consumer” a lot more than an ad campaign. When I’m asked to do great ‘story telling’ for a client then I do it as part of a bigger story using a real event or… I think of it as a part not a whole.
Storytelling is a buzzword? Not something parents have done forever, humanity has done for eternity? Advertising agency so and so’s for how long?
And white-washing our campaigns through it? Through story telling?
Please, please, please tell me there are people out there who can see the sheer absurdity of this?
I love my work but when I read this I despair.
This jumped up “creative” industry called advertising is constantly corrupting concepts from the real world to bluff the people with money who pay them. “Storytelling” in advertising was allways a stretch – and an insult to humanity’s greatest art form . Only suckers by into it. The same suckers who believe “disruption” is actually something other than being a little different.
If you’ve got either of these words on your agency website – and chances are you do –
you’re stupid.
Many thanks to everyone that’s taken the time to comment or add thoughts. I feel that a few people, Bea especially, have misinterpreted my intention behind the article, which wasn’t to belittle ‘the art of storytelling’. Storytelling can be highly effective, as the examples I’ve included show, and is one of many ways to inspire emotions in people. Within the marketing industry however, the term has been overused and misused, making it less meaningful.
“What we’re really trying to do as marketers, is move people”.
What you’re really trying to do as marketers is debase human emotion and expression to increase corporate profit. Don’t kid yourselves.
Rob,
You clearly make a differentiation between story telling and telling stories, and within the context, I understand why.
However my point concerning the mixed feelings towards theatre, actors, and creative people in general, over the cenuries, is important even in your logical use of “telling stories.”
Telling stories is just fine. so long as they are good stories. I suggest that the people you are referring to, have been confusing story telling with the spreading bullshit.
Well said, Rob. Agree!
“I think what we have here is a case of creative agencies trying to stop the flow of revenue to those who really know how to craft a true narrative eg. Publishers, documentary film makers etc that to your point, can evoke an emotional response as well as persuade.”
Not from where I sit as a publisher. ‘Tis very much the other way around with funds going to PR …
Great read Rob. It reminded me of the Nescafe Gold Blend saga in the UK, starting with a couple flirting in the first ad, through the developing relationship, with each ad leaving a tease for the next. When they finally finished the ad series they had loads of people begging them to continue the story. See https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_Blend_couple
Great read thanks Rob.
At the risk of being widely criticised, I think the Dove Real Beauty campaign also hit the mark: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpaOjMXyJGk
Yep, most of the examples are “just telling stories”
I just read a great article here http://www.b2bmarketinginsider.....orytelling
It sums up, to me, what great Storytelling is about from a Brand perspective. I like the first line “Great storytelling starts with a narrative bigger than yourself.” This is what gives any story impact.
Hi Lee, I like your example. It demonstrates the point that brands need to act in a more human way and inspire emotion. Instead of trying to sell products via retail messages, Lincoln Electric appealed to people’s personal pride in what they do. “Our audience is anyone who would consider or could be convinced that welding and metal fabrication is a lifestyle, as opposed to just a job or trade.” That’s social currency. Would have been interesting to see if it increased sales. Rob
“Understanding humans is one of the future aspects of planning”
Really?
I thought it had been for the past forty years or so.
Maybe I’ve been doing it wrong all this time.